The present invention relates to an insulating element for the thermal insulation of buildings and more particularly for the thermal insulation of the walls, ceilings and roofs thereof.
Thermal insulating materials are available in a large variety of types for buildings and underground structures, technical plant and apparatus and on the one hand serve to prevent losses of heat or cold and therefore energy losses or on the other hand to prevent the undesired effects of heat or cold as far as possible on the structure to be protected, be it for preventing damage to thermally sensitive materials or be it to prevent indirect effects of heat or cold, such as the formation of condensate.
At the present time synthetic materials such as polyurethane foam or also mineral wool and more particularly fiber glass, are utilized on a large scale as an insulating material. Such insulating materials are not only relatively expensive and involve for their production a greater or lesser quantity of energy, but furthermore their production, processing and disposal involve unavoidable impairment of the environment. It has turned out that for instance fiber glass as frequently utilized for thermal insulation of walls, ceilings and roofs of buildings decomposes in the course of time and thus looses its insulating action.
Mineral fiber materials, that is to say glass, stone or slag fiber, are generally impregnated with phenolformaldehyde. Formaldehyde and phenol cause a wide variety of complaints, more particularly in the case of allergic persons, for which reason their use in dwellings is to be avoided.
A particular problem is that fiber glass is frequently damaged by cockroaches, which are difficult to combat. There have been reports on cockroaches creeping through the fiber glass insulation of district heating systems and making their way into the buildings served thereby.
In the case of thermal insulation in dwellings the provision of uncontaminated air for the occupants is of great importance, for which reason the material used for thermal insulation should have a clean bill of health, should be capable of diffusion and should be hygroscopic, that is to say capable of avoiding extremes in the moisture content of indoor air.
There is therefore a requirement for insulating elements, which while having a high insulating effect are simple and low in price and may be produced, utilized and if necessary disposed of taking environmental aspects into account and may be used while maintaining a healthy indoor atmosphere for dwellings as well, for which reason the installation is to be hygienic, capable of diffusion and hygroscopic.
A proposal has already been made to use sheepswool for this purpose as an insulating material.
It has been shown by means of experiments that the use of sheepswool is greatly superior to mineral wool as utilized on a large scale presently for the thermal insulation of buildings. Such sheepswool furthermore is available at a substantially lower price; at present black sheepswool is practically unsalable because it cannot be dyed. Sheepswool is extremely hygienic, is capable of diffusion and tempers the moisture in the atmosphere and is therefore particularly suitable to provide good clean indoor air for dwellings. From the environmental aspect as well sheepswool is one of the raw materials to which there can be no objection as regards processing, use and disposal so that there is no impairment of the environmental cycle.
As regards the aspect of fire prevention there are no objections to the use of sheepswool as an insulating material for buildings. When acted upon by a flame wool carbonizes without self-sustaining combustion so that the fire is not spread. Unlike the case synthetic insulating materials no gases with a narcotic effect are produced. A further point to be considered is that sheepswool when used as an insulating material for building dwellings can generally be completely enclosed by material which is hardly capable of burning.
For the practical use of sheepswool it is important to produce insulating elements which consist exclusively of it in order to profit from the optimum properties thereof without impairment by the inclusion of other materials and which are easy produce, simple to store and simple to ship and more particularly are easily handled during installation.